Conventional wisdom, whether correct or not, predicts that water resources will become increasingly scarce. This is particularly problematic in arid climates, which climates include desserts and high plains desserts such as, for example, parts of Colorado, U.S.A. Regions may compensate for a general lack of water using water storage facilities and reservoirs. Reservoirs can be used to store vast amounts of water over large tracts of land but suffer drawbacks. Reservoirs are typically exposed resulting in a higher rate of evaporation and a potential for contamination to name but two drawbacks.
Many attempts to overcome the drawbacks of reservoirs have been tried, including using aquifers, which is generally a type of underground water storage. Typically, an aquifer is a subsurface, porous region that is saturated with water. The region may contain gravel or crushed rock, for example. One specific type of subsurface structure that can be saturated with water is an alluvium. Generally, alluvium is associated with riverbeds or mountainous areas and comprises horizontal layers of materials deposited by water over time, which materials include the aforementioned gravel, crushed rock, and the like.
An underground water storage area is typically bounded by an aquitard, which is a bed of low permeability, or an aquiclude, which is a water impermeable barrier such as, for example, bedrock. Manmade impermeable barriers may be arranged in an aquifer to form an underground water storage facility. In other words, once water is introduced to the underground water storage, it will not naturally flow out. The formed underground water storage facility functions somewhat as a pool to store the water.
Conventionally, underground water storage facilities are filled, or charged, with water using either a flood method or a pumping method. A flood method is a slow process to saturate the underground water storage facility and includes flooding the surface area (e.g., the flood plane) above the underground water storage facility or the like. Alternatively, pumps may be coupled to wells to force water into the underground water storage area rapidly under pressure. Pumps, however, require a significant amount of energy and increase a carbon footprint associated with the storage of water.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved systems and methods for charging an underground water storage area.